CHARITY  WALK

David Lewsley WALKED  to Skegness………..

Over 4 days between Thursday 10^th to Sunday 13^th June 2010

in aid of  PARKINSON’S UK

2.5 WEEKS LATER

    It seems a bit of a distant memory now , but I did it !

 

DAY 1  Littleover to Southwell  

    Up against it  straight away, as of all the days to pick to "overlay" I chose today and as a result set off almost one and a quarter hours behind schedule. I know I shouldn't have let it "get to me" but it was a tough days walking, without starting late!

    I made a second, and more significant mistake, as I understimated the weight of my new bigger rucksack. Fully laden with "essentials" for this unsupported effort, there were times, particularly when tired when I could barely pick

up the rucksack, or keep my balance when I finally got it on my back.

    This led very early on to sharp back pains. Then soon after to pains in both knees! By the time I got to Borrowash I

was in deep trouble! I never expected to be in trouble so early. Skegness seemed a 1000 miles away. I could only "dig deep" , "take it a step at a time" and whatever other cliches one can think of in this situation. In my training I had walked

into Nottingham faster and easier than I expected, today I severely struggled but I couldn't give up, especially so soon, and with such fantastic sponsorship money resting on me. The aim was to keep going , progress was painfully slow but I was "clocking up" the miles. I achieved my minimum target of getting to Southwell (33 miles), which was quite good

considering the problems, and had darkness not come down so early (it had been showery all day), I would have tried to have done at least half of the 8 further miles to my scheduled stop at Newark. My overriding memories were those of

a 'never ending hill' into Carlton, and being so tired near the end that Southwell was like a mirage, always hoping that it was round the next corner. It was about 9.15pm when I poured out a well-deserved cider on ice. I had to wait ages for a taxi to take me to my B&B in Newark (there are no taxi firms in Southwell) , and arrived there just after 11pm.

I would have to get a taxi back to the Wheatsheaf in Southwell in the morning to pick up from where I stopped. As I chatted to the taxi driver, he was amazed that I was going back to Southwell, nobody would ever know that I hadn't

done those eight miles.

DAY 2   Southwell to Sleaford

After a short night's sleep and an early breakfast, it was back to the Wheatsheaf in Southwell with  another taxi driver

who believed I was crackers for being honest .  Off I started again, making quite good progress to start with, but with the weather getting much hotter and sunnier, my knees hurting, the first onset of blisters and some difficult stretches of road with no pavements meant progress rapidly slowed. It was 1 pm as I passed the B&B I'd stopped at the night before,it had taken me so long to get back there.

I now started the Day 2 schedule of 29 miles and moved slowly into the true Lincolnshire countryside. It was still blisteringly hot as I shuffled into the village of Claypole, where a "good samariton" postal worker gave me a most refreshing ice-cold drink, and a chance to freshen up, as he had seen me struggling.  Very much appreciated!.

I moved onto the next village of Stubton, where I took a break, sitting on a bench, when suddenly a car pulled up,and two people quickly jumped out and shot over towards me. Initailly, I wasn't sure what was happening then I realised it

was my daughter Emma (30) and son Simon (28)

They were well-prepared and sprung into action. The rucksack was off my back and in the car, energy drinks at the ready,taking turns to walk with me and drive the route in advance. The weight of the rucksack now gone, and

the instant support that I felt, gave me fresh impetus and we fairly rattled through some pleasant Lincolnshire countryside ion a really hot and sunny late afternoon and evening. We made excellent progress reaching within 1

mile of Sleaford, as darkness fell just before 10pm, and after such a bad first half I had ended up the day having   completed  28 miles or so.

It had been another very long and tiring day, and after being driven to my B&B for the night, I found  I could hardly stand up, and had to be supported to get to the room. Fortunately I was later able to limp to the pub across the across the road for a much needed cider on ice

 

DAY 3   Sleaford to New  Bollinbroke

It was almost noon before we restarted, Emma & Simon had dropped me off late last night,had gone back to Derby,

had a short sleep, re-stocked on provisions and made the journey back to Lincolnshire. One strategic decision  taken

was to abandon any hope of doing the 40 miles to Skegness in a day, pushing it into a fourth day. I was dissappointed but it was sensible.

It prooved to be a very hard day. It was the hottest day so far, my feet were painful with blisters, and the walking

along busy main roads with no pavements was tough. Two things  I  will remember about today are (i) a particularly

dangerous hump back bridge,where the suggestion of a safer short car journey over the bridge was dismissed as cheating, and we just "legged it" as fast as we could, and (ii) being treated to an afternoon of aircraft displays as we approached RAF Coningsby.

However, progress was slow and by 5pm we had only covered 10 miles. It was time to " dig deep" again. I needed to put some extra effort in. I needed desperately to get another 10 miles done tonight, because I couldnt really face more

than 20 miles on the final day. Luckily the sun seemed to relent, the route was quiet countryside and the pace was fast ,as we completed about 10 miles in around 3 hours

We finished about 8 o'clock in a pub restaurant in New Bollingbroke, listening to the largely negative responses of the England football fans watching the USA game. Gradually I began to feel quite ill,  I ate very little, felt absolutely exhausted, couldnt walk unaided and was shaking with cold. I slept all the way to the rather posh hotel I'd been booked into. I believe that I was dehydrated after such a hot day, combined with the cumulative effect of fatigue. I was in the worst state of the walk so far, but 20 miles on the 4th day was feasible.

 

DAY 4   New Bollingbroke to Skegness

I knew the key was getting myself into the best shape possible to face the days final challenge. A reasonable  nights

sleep, together with having drunk buckets of water and smothered my poor feet with excessive amounts of petroluem

jelly, gave  me the confidence to know that I was going to do it!

One of the main symptoms of Parkinson's is the slowness of movement, and as I struggled for what seemed like several minutes to cut a slice off a sausage , I wondered whether I'd forgo todays achievement to be able to eat a meal at a "normal " pace.  A stupid thought, as I'm much better off than many with Parkinson's, and of course there was still a walk to complete ( a job to be done).

Today went largely according to plan. The first 9 or 10 miles were done at a good pace, giving the required good start,

there was a bit of a low in the midde as the long straight country roads seemed to go on forever. Finally, I got to the main A52, posed for photographs at the Skegness sign, and almost sprinted the  remaining two miles to complete the task with photos beneath the Clock Tower.

I had always wondered what the last mile or so would  be like, would I be staggering or crawling  to the finish? What

would I feel like when I got there?  It was certainly not euphoria or elation, it was sheer relief. Relief that I'd done what I

said I was going to do, and didn't let all those many supporters down.

 

Review of achievement

I said I would do the walk unsupported but was supported by Emma & Simon for about 60 miles of the 104. I will never know what would have happened if I'd carried on unsupported. I appreciate that friends and family were concerned about me and the extent to which I would push myself, and were much reassured that I was no longer alone. I never asked for Emma & Simon to come out, I never ever contemplated them coming out, and was so focussed on keeping going, expecting to see it through to a conclusion on my own. I was genuinely surprised to see my "back-up team" but I was pleased and grateful of this important family support.

I said I would do the walk in three days, it actually took four days

But I did walk every inch of the way between Littleover and Skegness. I don't feel I've done anything really fantastic, athough naturally I'm pleased and proud to have done it.